Author: Sandra Radlovacki

More Than Half of Customers Now Start Support Journeys Outside Company Channels

A new Gartner survey has revealed that 51% of service journeys now begin on third-party platforms such as Google, YouTube, and generative AI tools like ChatGPT, often without customers ever visiting a brand’s official channels.This trend is particularly strong among...

SoundHound AI and Acrelec Team Up to Automate Drive-Thrus with Voice AI

SoundHound AI has announced a global partnership with quick-service restaurant (QSR) tech provider Acrelec to roll out fully automated, voice-enabled drive-thru systems.The collaboration combines SoundHound’s Dynamic Drive-Thru voice technology with Acrelec’s content management and digital signage solutions. As a result,...

AI Agents Might Be the Reason Fraud Detection Tools Are Going Blind

The rapid rise of consumer-facing AI agents is undermining the very systems designed to detect online fraud, and most businesses aren’t prepared for what’s coming.Transmit Security’s new report, Blinded by the Agent, reveals that traditional fraud detection technologies are failing...

The CX Revolution Starts Inside the Company

Customer experience gets the spotlight, but what about the people delivering it?A standout trend in this year’s Gulf Customer Experience Awards is the growing number of companies rethinking how they engage and support their employees. In a region where traditional...

Ipsos Brings Human-Centric CX Benchmarking to Qualtrics Marketplace

Ipsos has launched its Forces of CX solution on the Qualtrics XM Marketplace, offering businesses a ready-to-use, research-backed tool to measure and improve customer experience.Developed in collaboration with Qualtrics, the self-guided solution allows organisations to benchmark performance, uncover emotional drivers...

Treasure Data Launches Enterprise AI Agents Built on Unified Customer Data

Customer data platform provider Treasure Data has expanded its AI Agent ecosystem to help enterprises deploy generative AI tools that are both powerful and safe to use at scale. Built on its core customer data platform and powered by Amazon...

Digital Grocery Loyalty Isn’t Keeping Up with Its 71% Adoption Rate

Online grocery shopping is now firmly part of American consumer behaviour: 71% of shoppers have done it, and half do it at least once a month. But a new survey from composable commerce provider VTEX shows that loyalty hasn’t caught...

PCI Pal Brings AI Fraud Detection to the Voice Channel

PCI Pal has launched a new Fraud Management Suite aimed at tackling card-not-present (CNP) fraud in contact centres, a growing problem as voice payments remain vulnerable compared to e-commerce.The first feature in the suite is real-time AI risk scoring for...

Public Sector Hold Times Now UK’s Biggest CX Headache, Beating Banks

Healthcare providers and government agencies have overtaken banks as the most frustrating organisations to reach by phone in the UK, according to a new survey by customer experience platform 8×8.Seventy-five percent of UK consumers say they often can’t get through...

NiCE to Acquire Cognigy for $955M to Build Unified AI Platform for Customer Experience

NiCE has signed a definitive agreement to acquire conversational AI company Cognigy in a deal valued at approximately $955 million. The acquisition combines NiCE’s CXone Mpower platform with Cognigy’s conversational and agentic AI capabilities to accelerate the adoption of AI-first...